Echoes
by AmenToTheMangaBible11
Summary: It was supposed to be him behind bars, but she took his place on the death toll. Now Tenten's fate is sealed because of how much she loves the person that is keeping her locked up in prison, but little does she know, her love, Neji, is just as imprisoned in the jail as she is even if he isn't behind bars. Warning: Character death.


This is really dark considering it's me, but I hope it'll appeal to a different audience than the one I have now, or maybe the same audience. Who knows, your tastes might be just as diverse as mine. I wrote this a while back for a classroom assignment and just changed a few things since I thought it seemed perfect for a fanfiction. It was hard finding just the right couple, but I think this came out alright. I hope you angst fans enjoy this, Love AMB11.

**Disclaimer: **AMB11 doesn't own Naruto or its' characters, but she does own this little bit of story that plays around with them.

**Warning: **Character death. Read the author's note at the bottom, please. Thank you.

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She'd spent years here, always waiting, always alone. He sometimes came, but when the main reason he came was gone, he was with her less; it was too dangerous for it to be any other way. But she trained anyway for a day she didn't think would ever come. She knew it was hopeless because she'd never escape even if she was physically able to. Soon she'd get to leave this place, but even then it wouldn't mean freedom, so she'd just listen to those around her that continued to beg for release even though she'd long since given up, and wait to see something other than darkness. Even then, the echoes rang in her mind, unending.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tenten sometimes wished she was deaf, because not hearing anything at all always appealed to her in the same sick fashion that death, when burning in a fire, appeals to the person of circumstance. It was a selfish wish, to not hear the screaming and crying of the women, children, and men in the cells around her own, but it was one she continued to make even though she doubted it would ever come true. There was one sound, however, that she hated more than any other that a human being could make.

The gunshot echoed down the corridor, and the chaotic prisoners finally grew silent in their squalor. Tenten felt the door beside hers slam shut, a bit of dust falling from the stone ceiling above her head, and then there was a crash as whoever the person had been fell to the ground. She heard their blood run like water from their wounds as they were dragged down the hall, and the metallic scent of it made her eyes water more than simply knowing what was going on just a few feet to her right.

She scrambled away from the bars that she called a cell door when a soldier slammed his hand against the lock as he walked by, his blonde hair the only thing she could see of him in the darkness. His voice was higher than those of the prisoners around her, but she found that she still liked it. He was the Gatekeeper, the one who kept them all sealed away in this inescapable void. Tenten didn't even know his name, but she felt like she knew him. This man was kind, because he'd always sing away those who'd died here in this Hell, and his voice was unlike any other she'd heard; Tenten really liked him.

The bottoms of the cheap slippers on her feet scraped against the grimy floor as she stood and took a few near-silent steps over towards the gate. Every day, he would roam the halls and distribute warnings to the prisoners, even if it was strictly prohibited. A short piece of ribbon was jammed in the lock mechanism on her door, and after a few tugs, it came free in her small hand. A few drops of blood ran from the cloth and between her fingers, but she clutched it tighter still, the black satin fabric smooth against her rough skin. It grew quiet around her when the room beside her was emptied all except for the body collector, and the rest of the prisoners settled down to mourn.

"Neji," She whispered into the darkness, voice cracking from disuse. She swallowed the lump in her throat and knocked once on the wooden door leading to the adjoining cell. A fire lamp lit on the other side, and she quickly shielded her eyes from the light seeping through the crack under the door. Slowly spreading her fingers after counts of five, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the semi-dark, watching through the thick dust clouds in the air. A light knock echoed through her cell. A smile lit up her face, her white teeth glowing in the dark.

A key turned in the metal lock, releasing the hatch. Gravity quickly pulled the lock to the ground, and the door screeched open on rusted hinges. Delicate fingers shakily pulled the door open wide enough to slip through sideways, before shutting it within an inch of closing after the young woman was through. She was swallowed into a warm embrace by large arms, before a masculine hand shut the door silently as the light from the oil lamp flickered from the change in pressure.

Her smile was warm as Neji's hands gently rubbed the back of her head, fingers tangling occasionally in the knots twisted into her hair. His crystal blue eyes were warm, yet sad as they took in the young prisoners' appearance; disheveled, unkempt, and miserable, yet uninjured. Neji breathed a sigh of relief and hugged the woman tighter to his chest, feeling her shake silently, her hot tears leaving streaks and smudges in the grime on her tanned face.

He shushed her, rubbing circles on her back, rocking side-to-side with her seated on his lap. She shook violently then, not in shock of the man murdered mere moments ago just a few inches from where she sat, or of being comforted by a guard of the very halls she cried herself to sleep in every night, or what she perceived as night in the perpetual dark, but of the black ribbon balled up in her sticky fist. She jammed her small hand into her deep, lone pocket, and wept as quietly as she could into the chest of the man holding her.

"Tenten, come on now. It's alright Tennie, I'm here," The man before her whispered in her ear. He caught her smaller hands in his own and held them tight before him. Her face radiated a soft light, the dying lamp casting a shadow over her left eye and lips, but he could still see them tremble. Neji ran a large thumb across her brow before drawing his hand to her cheek. He nodded once and she got to her feet. He stood himself and wiped her tears, then made for the lamp, now flickering down to its last leg.

Tenten held his hand as they walked the few strides to the door adjoining this cell to hers, her head just reaching the strap holding his weapon around his shoulders. She broke free from his grasp when they stilled, and splayed her fingers across the hilt of his sword, letting her fingers run over the smooth leather of the scabbard. She fingered the metal studs embedded in the worn material, and smiled faintly.

A watery gaze met his when he chanced a glance down into Tenten's eyes, and he threw his line of sight quickly to the left. She tugged his hand into her own once again and shoved a lock of thick, matted brown hair behind a small ear before shuffling from the blood-soaked ground of the open cell onto the slick floor of what she called her room.

"I want you to be strong for me, alright. Can you promise me that you will?" Neji placed his hands heavily on her slight shoulders and held her chocolate-colored gaze for as long as he could stand to; she nodded. Her hand delved into her pocket slowly and clutched the ribbon as tightly as her weak grip would allow and brought her hand down to her side.

They clung to each other tightly as he whispered of his love for her in her ear, and of his promises to return to see her soon. She'd see him when he came to collect the next prisoner to die in her corridor, she knew. Her shoulders heaved with her deep breath, and tears filled her eyes to the brim, but she swiped them away with a tight fist. '_Neji wants me to be brave,'_ She thought to herself with resolve.

Neji's hands cupped her face, forcing her gently to look at him. She had his speech memorized, and would often say it to herself while she would train herself in the gloom of the days in the seemingly endless time she spent in the dark, but it always sounded better from his lips. He kissed her forehead once, then her chapped lips just as chastely.

"You're such a brave young woman, much braver than I am. Every day when the sun rises, you act as if everything is new again, even though you can't see it coming up for yourself. Just keep thinking about how we'll be together when you get out of here, no matter what happens. You know I like it when you're happy; Hinata used to stay positive when she was here too, and I know how much you looked up to her like a sister." He smiled sadly, "Keep her influence in mind, okay? Remember, that even here, there's always a new day, and that you'll be fine soon." She nodded her head, biting her trembling lip. "Will you show me what color the Gatekeeper left for you today?" He held her shoulders, tears prickling the back of his eyes as he thought of having to leave her alone again. He took a small step back, his hand held out before him, but his smile faded quickly.

She hesitated to hand it over, the ribbon the color of the inky darkness that suffocated her every day that sat in the palm of her hand with her fingers curled over it. The blue of Neji's eyes was magnified ten-fold by the glistening of his unshed tears. She rested her hand on his, uncurled her fingers, and watched as his tears fell. She'd never seen him cry, but she knew why he did now. She'd go, like his beloved cousin.

He pulled her to him, shaking uncontrollably while she just stood there and let him hold her, her tears having dried up when the situation she was in finally hit home. She mumbled his name, and looked into his eyes before stepping back into her room, closing the door all but a crack. For just a moment, he saw her as she could've been, should be; vibrant and glowing with life; her hair sleek and shiny; her smile toothy and wide; and him standing beside her as she smiled at him with her eyes. He fell to his knees and she shut the door, a sad smile gracing her lips in the final moments Neji could see her. He heard her whisper to him through the wood, just loud enough to make out, "They'll come look soon, you should go, Neji."

Tenten's voice had never sounded so bittersweet in his ears before then. She knocked against the door once, and then he could hear a sort of laughter in her voice, "You know Dear, when you said I'd get to see Hinata again, I thought I'd at least get to bathe first. I hope she doesn't scold me about it too much." He heard her shuffle to her cot, the creaking suggesting that she'd laid down on it.

Her laughter rang in his ears, and his mouth opened, then shut again; his jaw clenched. Clumsy fingers locked the door, and he took a deep breath, nearly choking on the dank scent wafting to his nostrils from the fluids on the floor no less then twelve paces from where he stood. He left the cell then, leaving the door unlocked and open to signify its need for cleaning to whoever was the unfortunate soul that passed through next. He turned his head as he reached the door at the end of the corridor and looked back to his lover's cell, the ribbon hung loosely over the lock where it had been before its rest was disturbed previously. The simple piece of fabric reminded him of a snake, cold and deadly, and it had just gone after the only person he truly had left. A drop of blood dripped from the ribbon, and his frown magnified ten-fold when he couldn't figure out just who's it was.

Neji choked back a sob and jammed the helmet in his hands over his long waves of brown hair. He fisted the handle of the door and pulled the heavy oak back with well-muscled arms, slamming it shut behind him. His first steps were slow, but turned to a quick stride, and finally a mad dash for his room, only slowing once when his breath caught in his lungs as he climbed the stairs to the guard's living quarters. Gulping down the freshly scented, yet stale, air, he climbed the remaining steps to the lodgings and sat down on the first bed he saw.

He threw his helmet to the ground and buried his face in his hands, a massive headache churning through his head like a ship caught in a raging sea. "Why does this place always take everything away from me? Why aren't I allowed to keep anything?" His fingers brushed across the intricate scars that were branded across his forehead, and his hatred for the prison grew as he remembered that, just like the people sentenced to death here, he'd never be able to have freedom from this place he was forced to call home.

"God bless her soul," He choked into the elbow of his sleeve, the heavy red leather of the guard uniform that revealed his enslavement to the wretched prison wedged between his teeth. "It's like an echo of losing her all over again. I love you so much, Tenten. Why couldn't it be me instead?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tenten listened to the door slam as her only love left, the hastening footsteps receding into the background as he ran. "I love you more than my life, Neji." Her voice was no more than a whisper, even in her own ears.

She smiled when she heard the prisons' Reaper walk down the corridor, his gait slow and dragging, and easily recognizable. Her cell door creaked open, and the glint of a blade flashed in the hall on the back of a cloaked man just outside of her door from a flickering flame that was hung on the wall behind him. The Reaper approached her, his face darkened by shadows so deep that she felt herself die piece by piece with every advancing step he took.

The pistol in his hand clicked as he switched off the safety, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Tenten got off of her cot and approached the man that had come to kill her. The Reaper bowed lowly to her, and she returned it before standing as straight as she could and closing her eyes. Another click echoed in her ears, and smoke spilled from the barrel of the silenced gun.

Tenten fell to her knees and felt blood drip down her chin from between her cracked lips. Her chest hurt, but it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. At least she wouldn't have to die listening to the gunshot echoing down the corridors, that had always been what she hated most about this place.

Her back hit the floor as a red flower bloomed across her chest, and she died with a final croak of, "Goodbye, my love."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The End.

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1. I feel a little sad after reading back through that. We were reading through some poetic writings, and we had to write a tragedy. This story was originally written about a prison guard named Clare and his daughter Gwenivere. Gwenivere's mother was a prisoner when she gave birth to her, but she died when her daughter was only three. Clare, Gwenivere's father, was forced to become a guard or face taking his deceased wife's place in the jail. Gwenivere, in the end, was the one to fulfill her mother's sentence even as a small child, and her father did everything he could to help take care of her and show her that he loved her out of guilt for making his daughter go through this. Vi, as Clare calls her, is scheduled for death when her mother's sentence is finished, and both Clare and Gwenivere know it. He encourages her because of her tender age, but in the end, is faced to lose his only loved one the same way he lost his wife and continue working as a guard enslaved to the prison until he dies.

2. I turned this into a romance between Neji as Clare and Tenten as Vi, with Hinata taking the role of the deceased mother. I hope a few people enjoy this, because it was really something I worked hard on for class. It got published in my school and even in the local newspaper, so it was something I was really proud of.

3. Repetition is a part of insanity, and all an echo is, is a repetition of something that's happened before. There are some things in our lives that shouldn't be an echo, or else we'd all be driven insane.

R & R, Love AMB11.


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